Crouching Binome, Hidden Virus Part 2
by EmmyEmz
Summary: The Hunt Begins Now- The sprites' escape and plan of action from Enzo's point of view.


"Prepare yourselves… for the hunt."

Enzo's heart pounded so hard in his chest that he swore it could have popped right out and flopped onto the floor of the control room in front of him. Not that it would have mattered, the young boy with tremoring limbs thought to himself, because his father showed no immediate signs of mercy. The iciest of mechanical claws were breaking the surface of his green skin with every deep breath Enzo took. Despite the robotic exterior, there had always been a sense of comfort surrounding his resurrected father. But now that he was viral, Enzo had no idea if he would ever feel that again.

As for Megabyte, Enzo had never felt anything lighter than complete disgust towards the monster, and from looking at Matrix- his future, bulkier, and incredibly bitter self- nothing about that was likely to change. This beast had taken the ones he loved away from him too many times, and as the unstoppable virus grinned in their direction, it wasn't going to happen again.

"I'm sorry, dad… I'll come back for you…" Enzo whimpered.

Megabyte's eyes widened, pupils glowing a vile green. "What?"

With a swift jolt to the frail kneecap, Enzo broke free from the metal hands and kicked his father behind him, sending him flying backwards and landing limp against the outer walls of the office. Immediately, Megabyte lunged ferociously in Enzo's direction, fully expecting the young boy to frantically run away from him. What he wasn't expecting for was Enzo to duck and sprint straight towards his attack.

While Megabyte flew by in the air and landed clumsily in an unprepared pile on the floor, Enzo had his eyes set on phong, badly damaged and barely breathing from an earlier attack, who had been previously protected by Megabyte's presence. With both arms, steady though incredibly nervous, Enzo hugged Phong tightly against him and didn't stop running until he had reached Dot's personal office on the other end of the floor, and the garage style- door and locked behind them.

The room was completely black, and the only sign of life was Phong's slight tossing in Enzo's arms.

"Lights… now…" Phong croaked, and the overhead lamps began to fade on, revealing the room around them. Phong always had the most original passwords for these things.

All of Dot's belongings- her zip board resting against the wall, her various computer systems sprawled across the thick desk, and her small, round glasses resting on the edge of he table- flew by Enzo's eyes, each reminding him of his sister, who was somewhere in the Principal Office and possibly fighting for her life. The most prominent feature, decorating the largest wall, was a beautifully framed picture of all of his closest family and friends in front of Dot's diner, what must have been only a few cycles ago, just after the opera. Everyone was smiling with glee. They thought the pain was over, but now the entire system was in distress all over again. Mainframe had lost all of its security with the unpredicted arrival of a shape shifting Megabyte- how would he ever know whom to trust ever again? And what had happened to the infected sprites- like his father, and frisket?

"Frisket!" Enzo thought out loud. Phong sighed deeply, collecting his thoughts. He had gained some energy back, Enzo could see it in his eyes, and so he was placed on the ground, steadily upright.

"Little Enzo," Phong began, "We will find Frisket, I promise you; however, we need to gather as many sprites as we can and bring them to safety _r_i_ght now_! There is no time! The longer we leave Megabyte out there, the more damage he can do to all of them."

"But where will we go?" Enzo snapped back, cracking under the forthcoming pressure, "We still don't know the extent of Megabyte's new powers! What are we supposed to do?"

Phong breathed for a long nanosecond. Enzo could feel the time ticking by, and even though he knew how badly action had to be taken, he felt frozen. If only Bob and Dot were here- they would know exactly what to do.

But what if something had happened to them already? It wouldn't be the first time that Megabreath would have won, and it wouldn't be the first time he knew of an Enzo saving them. But he wasn't Matrix; he was little Enzo. He was just a young sprite, not a renegade, and not a guardian. He never would be.

"If you will it, you can achieve it." Phong interrupted with advice as old as he was. The sprite had always had a knack for reading his tension. "Your sister is counting on you. We are all counting on you. Do not forget what you are capable of, young sprite."

Enzo had heard the stories form Matrix, of the life that grew from him but he had never personally lived. He knew that there had to be something there, something within him that could save Mainframe. All he needed was a plan.

"You do not think Dot is the only one with the plans, do you?" Phong smirked. Without hesitation, he moved to the back corner of the cold room and towards a large button that Enzo had never noticed was on the wall. With one press, a miniature secret door opened up and peering closer, Enzo could see it what a small tunnel that led to the intricate hallways of the principal's office.

"Hurry along now! We don't have much time!" Phong said with more zest than Enzo had ever heard from him in his life. Confidently, Enzo followed Phong and crawled through the tunnel and into the unsure future ahead of his. All he knew for sure was that Megabreath was going down.

The sound of the duo's breathing echoed off the industrial walls of the hallways. Enzo peered at each of the many available paths, all-appearing so long that the boy could not see the end of them.

"Sure, so now we're out here," Enzo murmured, very consciously worried that the super-virus could be lurking around any corner, "but where do we go from here? It'll only be so long before..."

Enzo's voice dropped off at the sound of far-off footsteps and a low-toned conversation. Megabyte's monstrous feet wouldn't be so soft sounding, so someone else in the building must have had a similar idea…

"Enzo?" A woman's voice squeaked, with footsteps becoming increasingly louder. The young sprite snapped his head behind him and was presented with a full group of companions- Dot, Mouse, AndrAIa, and even Hack and Slash were trailing behind them. His shoulders lifted with joy.

"Enzo!" Dot screamed again, being immediately scolded by Phong's shaking head but ignoring the warning and running up to her brother with open arms regardless. "Is dad okay?"

"You can chat later, Dot- we aren't safe yet!" Mouse backed up Phong's notion while sharpening her glimmering samurai sword, "Megabyte has completely shut down the operational systems. Finding a hide out isn't going to be so easy."

"There are some places in this office that the virus does not have such automatic access to." Phong interjected Mouse's fretful pleas, "You'll all have to trust me, and follow with haste."

Phong turned on his rolling-ball-leg-substitute, which Enzo always noted strongly resembled the method of movement of previously viral Hack and Slash, and moved in the opposite direction of the gang.

Cautiously, the sprites followed Phong through various halls, constantly checking over each other's shoulders and keeping in a tight group. It seemed like seconds before they finally stopped, in front of another garage style door. The corridor had darkened considerably the further they had gone into the principal's office, and Enzo couldn't believe how Phong remembered the way through this place.

"Open sesame!" Phong declared, and the door rose.

Again, Enzo thought, with the original passwords.

With another successfully clear glance behind them, the group entered an elevator so large and wide-open it could be its own building. The gloomy, dark green, wall lighting gave everyone's faces a depressing glow, further than was already present. Quietly, the elevator shook and slowly began dropping down. Though so many familiar faces now surrounded him, the boy couldn't help but think of the ones who were still missing. Last he was aware of, Bob and Matrix were in Mainframe's prison doing tests on Megabyte's capabilities. What had happened to them?

"Dot, do you know where we are?" Phong began, breaking the eerie silence that had grabbed all of them.

"I… It seems familiar, but I…"

"Do you remember the upgrade?"

Enzo certainly did not, and so turned to Dot's face. Her expression was first shock as the memories came back to her, but then turned to sadness as Enzo could see her mental reactions to these events. Perhaps it was regret towards what had occurred, or reminiscing of possible good times that had come out of it, but Enzo watched his sister's eyes grow a kind of determination that only evolved from a need to avenge.

"But Phong, the next upgrade isn't scheduled for another few cycles. And what comes out of it is always a mystery- we have no idea if it will have any anti- virus properties…"

"When Bob was new here, he and I had many conversations about his experience in the supercomputer. The guardian knows a way to call for an upgrade manually; although it does depend on the user's freewill if we shall receive it. If… If Bob were here, he would show us. But in the meanwhile, hopefully, I'll be able to call it on my own."

"And we know of quite the new and improved upgrade we could call for, don't we?" Dot's face grew a smirk of realization and excitement.

Mouse caught on to the plan. "Hexadecimal. That witch could save us!"

AndrAIa, for a moment, actually began to chuckle. From her hand she unleashed her long, silver trident, and flipped her shimmering blue hair behind her.

The elevator opened and revealed the basement- the upgrading headquarters of the Principal's office. The room was stalked full of online computer systems and crates of war supplies, a paradise for the commanding and workaholic Dot. None of them had ever seen a better headquarters.

"And I've heard stories about quite a perfect back up plan you keep down here." AndrAIa added.

Now, even Enzo knew about the plan at hand.

The Exo-skeleton. The fourty-foot-tall-robotic-destruction-machine stood just a walking distance in front of them, still shining from Dot's use of it at the last upgrade many, many cycles ago.

Dot smiled powerfully and entered the room.

"Alright, old friend- let's get busy."


End file.
